All known natural calcitonin peptides contain an amino acid sequence of 32 amino acids. Salmon calcitonin, for example, has the following formula: ##STR1##
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,926,938, 4,062,815, 3,929,758, 4,033,940 and 4,217,268 are disclosed improved syntheses of calcitonins including the salmon calcitonin above referred to.
The natural calcitonins include the salmon, eel, bovine, porcine and ovine, all have either glycine or L-arginine at position 24. Human calcitonin has glutamine at position 24.